PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Cochise

PEOPLE IN AMERICA, a program in Special English on the Voice of
America.

(THEME)

During the Eighteenth Century, Indians tried to halt the move of
white settlers into territory in the American west. I'm Shirley
Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Today we tell the story of one of the
leaders of the Indian resistance, Apache chief Cochise.

Graphic Image

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

In the middle Eighteen-Hundreds, there were only a few white
settlers in the southwestern United States. This was Apache
territory. The Chiricahuas were one of several Apache groups that
lived in what today is southern Arizona and New Mexico.

The Chiricahua war chief, Cochise had become used to American
travelers and military officials stopping at Apache Pass. It was the
only place in the area where drinking water could be found. The
Chiricahuas lived at peace with the settlers. They sold wood to the
settlers. And, in Eighteen-Fifty-Eight, Cochise had permitted the
Butterfield Overland Mail Company to build a rest area at Apache
Pass. He let mail carriers and other travelers pass safely through
the area on their way to California.

In February of Eighteen-Sixty-One, an American military officer
asked to speak with Cochise. He wanted to discuss several problems.
Some cattle were missing. And a boy had been taken from a farm in
the area. Second Lieutenant George Bascom had been ordered to do
whatever was necessary to find the child. He did not have any
experience in dealing with Indians.

VOICE ONE:

Cochise was tall for an Apache -- almost six feet. He had strong
cheekbones and a straight nose. He wore his black hair to his
shoulders in the traditional Apache way. He carried himself as a
person with power does. One American officer said he stood
"...straight as an arrow, built, from the ground up, as perfect as a
man could be."

The Chiricahua Apaches believed that a leader was one who was
wise and able to win in war. They believed that a leader is not
chosen, but just recognized.

Cochise was the son of a Chiricahua Apache chief. He had been
trained to lead from a young age. The whites who knew him both
feared and respected him. Friends as well as enemies considered him
to be an honest man. He always told the truth and expected others to
do the same.

By the time he met with Lieutenant Bascom, Cochise was about
fifty-five years old. He was an unusually powerful Apache leader.

VOICE TWO:

Lieutenant Bascom knew nothing about Cochise. The officer was
concerned only with succeeding at his first command.

Cochise was not responsible for the raid against the farm. So,
the Apache chief believed the American soldiers had come in peace.
He went to meet them with his wife and four other people. These
included his brother, his young son, and two other relatives. That
he came with his family was a sign of trust. But, Lieutenant Bascom
did not understand the sign.

They met in Lieutenant Bascom's cloth tent. Cochise told the
officer that his people were not involved in the raid. Cochise said
he would do what he could to help them find the boy. He told
Lieutenant Bascom that he believed the boy had been taken by the
White Mountain Apaches, a group that lived north of the Chiricahuas.
Years later, this was found to be true.

VOICE ONE:

Lieutenant Bascom, however, was sure Cochise was hiding the boy.
He accused Cochise of lying. At first, Cochise did not understand.
He thought the American was joking. Then Lieutenant Bascom told
Cochise that he and his family would be held prisoner until the
cattle and the boy were returned.

Cochise reacted quickly. He stood up, pulled out his knife and
cut a hole in the tent. He escaped through the hole. The soldiers
waiting outside were taken by surprise. They shot at Cochise three
times but could not stop him. One of Cochise's relatives also tried
to jump through the tent. But the soldiers captured him. Cochise
later told an American that he ran all the way up the hill with his
coffee cup still in his hand.

VOICE TWO:

Cochise captured four Americans and left a message for Lieutenant
Bascom about exchanging prisoners. But Bascom did not find Cochise's
message until two days later. By then, it was too late. The
Americans already had hung Cochise's brother and two other
relatives. They released Cochise's son and wife.

Cochise immediately made plans to repay the Americans for the
deaths of his relatives. Cochise killed his prisoners. He decided
that Americans could never be trusted. He said, "I was at peace with
the whites until they tried to kill me for what other Indians did; I
now live and die at war them."

VOICE ONE:

The incident led to years of violence and terror. Cochise united
the Apaches. They attacked the United States army and the increasing
number of white settlers moving into the southwest. The Apaches
fought so fiercely that troops, settlers and traders were forced to
withdraw from the territory. It appeared for a time that the Apaches
controlled Arizona.

News of Cochise's bravery in battle became widely known. He
fought as if he believed he was protected from harm. One American
soldier described how his shots missed Cochise. He said Cochise
would drop to the side of his horse, hang on its neck and use its
body as protection.

VOICE TWO:

In Eighteen-Sixty-Two, about two-thousand men marched from
California to Apache Pass. General James Carleton commanded them.
They were trying to re-establish communications between the Pacific
coast and the eastern United States.

Cochise had five-hundred Apache fighters hidden near Apache Pass.
The Apaches attacked fiercely. Suddenly the Americans fired two
large cannons. The Indians fled.

Mangas Coloradas, chief of the Chihenne Apaches, was badly
wounded. He survived. Six months later, he tried to make a peace
treaty with a group of American soldiers. He was taken prisoner,
shot and killed. Mangas's murder confirmed Cochise's belief that
Americans must never be trusted.

VOICE ONE:

Cochise became the main chief of all the Apache tribes. He and
his warriors rode through southeastern Arizona torturing and killing
everyone they found, including small children.

The federal government began a campaign to kill or capture all
Apaches. Cochise and two-hundred followers escaped capture by hiding
in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. During this time, new white
settlements were built. The Apaches continued to raid and return to
hide in the mountains.

For twelve years, Cochise escaped capture by troops from the
United States and Mexico. Officials in Arizona named him "public
enemy number one." The story spread that no white person could look
at Cochise and live to tell about it.

VOICE TWO:

Cochise refused to go to Washington for negotiations of any kind.
He did not trust the United States government. Yet he permitted his
son, Taza, to go. Taza got the disease pneumonia and died. He is
buried in the American capital.

In Eighteen-Seventy, General George Crook took command of the
territory of Arizona. He won the loyalty of a number of Apaches. He
got many of them to live on reservations, the public lands set aside
for the Indians. But his main target was Cochise.

VOICE ONE:

Cochise agreed to come out of the mountains to discuss moving his
people to a reservation in Arizona. But the federal government began
moving other Apache tribes to a reservation in New Mexico. Cochise
refused to agree to move to any place but his home territory. He
returned to the mountains to hide.

In the spring of Eighteen-Seventy-Two, he decided to negotiate a
peace treaty. General Oliver Otis Howard met with Cochise in his
hidden mountain headquarters. That summer, they agreed to establish
a reservation in Chiricahua territory in Arizona. General Howard
promised Cochise that his people would be allowed to live on their
homeland forever. Cochise surrendered. He lived on the reservation
peacefully until his death, in Eighteen-Seventy-Four.

VOICE TWO:

Two years later, the federal government broke the treaty and
forced the Apaches to move. Some of them refused. Led by Geronimo
and Cochise's son Naiche, they fled to the mountains. For ten years,
they continued raiding. Finally, they too surrendered and were moved
far away.

Cochise had fought fiercely to protect the land the Apaches
considered home. But he lost. He once said, "Wars are fought to see
who owns the land, but in the end it possesses man. Who dares say he
owns it--is he not buried beneath it?"

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian and
produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week for another PEOPLE IN
AMERICA program on the Voice of America.